Welsh Castles Relay is an officially licensed / permitted race organised by Les Croupiers Running Club, a 20 stage road race for experienced runners from Caernarfon Castle to Cardiff with stages averaging over 10 miles in length (many hilly, especially the 'mountain stages'..). 2019 will be the 37th anniversary of the race and takes place on 8-9th June.

Clubs and teams who have previously taken part, applied to enter or expressed interest in doing so will be sent entry details by email. If you are interested in taking part in 2019 please contact with the Race Administrator.

Entries for the 2019 race opened on Saturday the 12th of January and close on Monday the 11th of March at 14:00 prompt with successful/unsuccessful entrants then duly informed.

We are grateful to Burges Salmon LLP for sponsoring the race for a fourth year in 2019, and also to Mizuno, Run & Become and Brecon Carreg for their support.

Categories

There are four categories: open, veterans, ladies and business house. All UK teams must be affiliated running or athletics clubs, apart from the business house teams. Runners must be first claim for their club.

Normally the race is over-subscribed within the open category. This means the WCR committee must take tough decisions and unfortunately turn some clubs away. We do want to include as many as possible but health and safety factors and the volume of race traffic restrict us, and of course that must be our primary concern. Ladies, veterans and business house categories are generally under-subscribed. A strict race limit of 65 teams entering will be applied in 2019.

Teams

A team requires at least 20 runners – one per stage – and reserves in case of any last minute pull outs due to injury etc. No-one may run more than one stage**.

Teams can be single or mixed gender (with the obvious exception of the Ladies teams).

Business house runners should be current employees or their spouses/civil partners, sons or daughters. **An affiliated club runner may run for their club’s team and also for their Business House team (if eligible as described above, but they cannot represent both on the same stage).

Teams must take part in official club vests only, or same team shirts for business house entries.

Entry fee

The entry fee for 2019 will be £500 for affiliated clubs and £700 business house teams.

The fee is non refundable should the team subsequently withdraw so we strongly advise that the interest and availability of runners is checked before an application is made.

Online registration

Competing teams will need to register their squad of runners online within a set time period. We ask that as many people are registered as possible so that the team has plenty of runners to draw upon reserves. No-one can run less they have been registered in advance and have signed their disclaimer.

Online registration will open on Saturday the 13th of April and close on Monday the 27th of May 2019

Runners

Teams must field runners who can maintain at least 9 minute miles on hilly terrain and note that each stage has a time cut off, which is stringently applied. There is a time check point approximately half way on each stage.

No roads are closed so runners must have previous experience of open road races on an un-supported basis.

The race includes very exposed hilly sections so runners need to be prepared for adverse weather.

Runners must take part at their own risk.

Age restrictions

Runners should be 18+ years and medically fit to take part. A few shorter stages are suitable for 16-17 years+ (in accordance with UK Athletics rules). The age of men for veteran category is 40+ years and for women 35+ years.

Role of Team Captain

Teams taking part will need to appoint a Team Captain and ideally a Manager or Deputy to assist. They are responsible for everything to do with the team’s participation and its runners, including all pre-race communication and administration. Parts of the roles can be delegated to others in the team but the Team Captain carries responsibility overall and must attend the pre-race briefing in Caernarfon before the start of stage 1. He/she must respond to email communications promptly.

Marshalling duties

Each team competing has marshalling duties on specific stages. Honouring these duties is very important and the Team Captain is responsible for ensuring that all marshals are in place for the times required. Bibs are provided. Marshals are supported by teams of trained ‘flying marshals’ who add extra support on each stage, especially for the more difficult junctions and crossings. Teams need to provide marshals that are pro-active and properly briefed by their Team Captains in advance of the race weekend. Marshalling performance will form part of the race entry selection process.

Transport

The stage starts and finish points, and routes themselves, are mostly within small villages and towns, on road-side lay-bys and on narrow or winding roads. Traffic congestion is a problem so to minimise this we expect teams to use people carriers and mini buses. This is the best way to ensure runners arrive at their start points and are collected from their finish points on time. It is wise to work out a schedule in advance and have a pool of drivers, fully briefed.

Accommodation

Teams are responsible for finding their own accommodation. However there is free floor space with mats and shower facilities at Caernarfon leisure centre (Friday night) and Newtown High School allow free camping on their school fields (Saturday night). The adjacent leisure centre provides changing facilities, showers and toilets for campers. You’ll need to bring your own camping kit.

First aid is provided by Acute Medics who travel with the race for the entire duration of the weekend.

Charity

We don't organise this race for charitable purposes, but for the pure sport and enjoyment of running. If you wish to carry out any personal fundraising activities then please note that we do not hold street collection licences nor do we attract crowds of spectators as the race moves quickly from one place to another.

Race organisers

Welsh Castles Relay relies on the hard work of a committed band of volunteers from Les Croupiers RC.